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Tuesday, 27 December 2016

Book Review - Duplicity by Sibel Hodge

Title: Duplicity

Author: Sibel Hodge

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Publication Date: 27th December 2016

Rating: 4 Stars

There are three sides to every story: Yours. Mine. And the truth…Max and Alissa have a fairy tale life—newlywed, madly in love and enviously rich. Then Max is brutally stabbed to death at their home and Alissa, miraculously, escapes with her life. But why was she spared?The hunt for the killer begins, uncovering a number of leads—was Max’s incredible wealth the motive? Had his shady business practices finally caught up with him? Or was it a stalker with a dangerous obsession?Devoted friends rally around gentle, sweet Alissa as she is left to mourn the loss of her husband and pick up her life. But not everyone is who they seem…Deep-rooted jealousies, secrets and twisted love lie just beneath the surface, and not all fairy tales have a happy ending.Duplicity is a suspenseful thriller from the bestselling author of Look Behind You and Where the Memories Lie.

For a lot of the first part of the book, I will admit I was wondering if I had made a mistake, the story seemed to be fairly open and shut at least on the police's behalf and it all felt too neat and tidy to me. Don't get me wrong I was still interested in what was happening, but I felt as though the story needed a bit more oomph! I then had a day at work and returned to the book, praying that my gut feeling was there had to be a twist that would make the book suspenseful and gripping, and thankfully that was my reward for reading on. From the point where things start to make a bit more sense, while understanding more about the murder, from the murderer's point of view, I was fascinated and hooked. You need to pay attention at the start of each chapter, as they are all written in the first person, but the person changes depending on the chapter, and the header tells you who you are for that section. I didn't quite twig to start with, so doubled back while I worked out what was going on! The main perspectives you get are that of the person "who did it", complete with their childhood background and everything leading up to the moment, in bite sized chunks, so you can get to know them over the course of the book, and try to understand potential motivations. The other perspective is that of the detective. I initially struggled to get to grips with this detective and his team, but I was impressed with his determination to not be too bossed about by his superiors and to follow his own hunches. As the story progressed I was drawn more and more into it, and it soon became really hard to put the book down at all. The twists were far better than I could have predicted myself, and I loved the whole sequence towards the end, where the pacing suddenly sped up, and there was a race against time involved. This is what I would call a strong suspenseful police procedural that had be second guessing my hunches, and had me completely immersed in the writing towards the end. There were even some traits from the villain that I was really impressed with, despite them clearly being a sociopath!Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for this copy of the book. This was my honest and voluntary review.